The present disclosure relates to a coordinate measuring device. One set of coordinate measurement devices belongs to a class of instruments that measure the coordinates of a point by sending a laser beam to the point. The laser beam may impinge directly on the point or may impinge on a retroreflector target that is in contact with the point. In either case, the instrument determines the coordinates of the point by measuring the distance and the two angles to the target. The distance is measured with a distance-measuring device such as an absolute distance meter or an interferometer. The angles are measured with an angle-measuring device such as an angular encoder. A gimbaled beam-steering mechanism within the instrument directs the laser beam to the point of interest. The laser beam may come from a source of laser light located within the gimbaled beam-steering mechanism. Alternatively, the laser beam may come from an external source of laser light and reflect off a mirror attached to the gimbaled beam-steering mechanism. Exemplary systems for determining coordinates of a point are described by U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,651 to Brown et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,339 to Lau et al.
The laser tracker is a particular type of coordinate-measuring device that tracks the retroreflector target with one or more laser beams it emits. A device that is closely related to the laser tracker is the laser scanner. The laser scanner steps one or more laser beams to points on a diffuse surface. The laser tracker and laser scanner are both coordinate-measuring devices. It is common practice today to use the term laser tracker to also refer to laser scanner devices having distance- and angle-measuring capability. This broad definition of laser tracker, which includes laser scanners, is used throughout this application.
Compensation parameters are numerical values that are stored in software or firmware accessible to the tracker. These numerical values are applied to raw tracker data to improve tracker accuracy. Initially, the manufacturer of the tracker finds the compensation parameters by performing measurements called compensation procedures. Later, the tracker will be used at the customer's site to make measurements. Periodically, the tracker will be checked for accuracy by performing interim tests. If the accuracy is substandard, the tracker operator will perform one or more compensation procedures on the factory floor. These can take from a few minutes to an hour or more, depending on the particular tracker and on the tests that are required. In most cases, the main cause of reduced tracker accuracy is thermal drift, although mechanical shock can also be important. New methods for compensating coordinate measuring devices such as laser trackers are needed to improve accuracy and speed testing.